Man dies after marathon video game session

[Taliesin]

Man dies after marathon video game session
Last Updated Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:47:24 EDT
CBC News

A South Korean man who recently quit his job to play more video games died after playing almost non-stop for 50 hours at an internet café.

"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official told Reuters.

The 28-year-old man began playing on-line battle simulation games at the café in the southeastern city of Taegu on Aug. 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the washroom or take brief naps on a makeshift bed, police said.

When he didn't come home, the man's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the café, he said he would finish the game and then go home, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported.

He died a few minutes later, the paper reported.

Former work colleagues and staff at the internet café said he had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games.

50 hours? That's like half a SirPleb milkrun on Standard size! I'm curious as to what game the guy was playing.

Let's keep in mind that this occurred in a country where you can watch Starcraft TV for 24 hours a day...

 

[blindside]

There was another South Korean man who died in a similar manner a few years ago. I believe he played for over 70 hours.

 

[ligertiger]

Why do people do this? I've went on 5 hour binges at a time, but I always take a break and relax before jumping back in.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Addiction I supposed. And lack of self-control...

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Sigh, it is this kind of people that give video games a bad name.

 

[Babbler]

At least he died doing what he loved...

 

[MarineCorps]

At least he died doing what he loved...

I suppose thats one way of looking at it.

 

[Godwynn]

The longest I've gone is like 7 hours, and after that I fell asleep.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

At least he died doing what he loved...

I agree, rest in peace, fellow gamer.

 

[CivCube]

The worst thing is, he was probably playing Adventure Quest.

 

[GenMarshall]

Addiction I supposed. And lack of self-control...

Agreed. The ony thing that I can think for the cause of death would be lack of sleep, but the guy had breef naps.

I guess this can be an urban legend.

 

[general_kill]

wow, shocking. i've stayed up for all nighters b4 but 50 hours is just crazy.

 

[Ramius75]

Dont he surf other "websites" between games ???

 

[Japanrocks12]

50 hours huh? It will be daunting trying to outmatch that guy. No matter, I shall find some way to manage.

 

[Zardnaar]

Heck!!!!. I've made 28 hours and my friend reached 40 hours.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

He takes one more turn to a whole new level...

 

[BasketCase]

The closest I ever came was more than a decade ago, on an outer space strategic wargame called "Armada 2525". I played ten hours straight--the reason being, the instruction book was really bad and I couldn't figure out how to save the game!

So I stayed up another two hours, and then the answer suddenly occurred to me---

---so I left the computer on and went to bed.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Well, I hope nobody atttempts that when Civ 4 comes out, or lurking on CFC forum for 50 hours without sleep.

 

[Perfection]

or lurking on CFC forum for 50 hours without sleep.

IIRC Chieftess already does this.

 

[Elrohir]

I once went on a 13-hour Civ 3 binge, where I played with only brief breaks from 11 in the morning to midnight. But that's the most I've ever played in one day, and 50 hours is excessive. But, we are talking about South Korea, the country where Starcraft is a national pasttime. I hope his widow doesn't sue the internet cafe or game makers, like in the 'N-64 killed my son' case.